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Royals seeking some offensive assistance

Royals seeking some offensive assistance

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By Dick Kaegel and Kathleen Gier
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MLB.com |

KANSAS CITY -- After a 19-5 start following the All-Star break, the Royals have dropped seven of their last nine games and the offense is stalling. Kansas City has scored just 18 runs in nine games and batted .224 (68-for-304) as a group.

"Offensively, we haven't had a year that I think we anticipated having," manager Ned Yost said. "We felt that this was a really good offensive team, a doubles team that was athletic, that could run, that could create scoring opportunities for us. But we just, for some reason all year long, never hit a stride that we anticipated hitting out of Spring Training."

The Royals have scored three runs or fewer in eight of their previous nine games with two shutouts in that span.

"Our club is not a club that is going to pound you into oblivion offensively. We're not going to win games, 9-1," Yost said. "If we're going to score runs, it's got to be team oriented. We've got to get guys on, get guys over and get guys in. we don't have one guy that's capable of carrying us for an extended period of time.

"You've got to almost fall back and appreciate the fact that you've got nine guys that are going to make this happen and everybody has a role. We've got guy that really need to focus just on getting on base and then we've got guys that are run producers, and they're focus has got to be driving those guys in."

The Royals are also struggling with runners in scoring position, where they are batting .118 (9-for-76) in the last nine games and just 2-for-21 in the last three.

"They don't have to be real pretty, but they've got to be prettier than they are now," Yost said. "I don't mind winning games 3-2, 2-1 as long we're winning games. When we're losing games 2-0, 2-1, we've got to find something."

Dick Kaegel is a reporter for MLB.com. Kathleen Gier is an associate reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.